Thursday, 20 November 2014

I just wanted to take this chance to say 'THANK YOU', since I started in September 2013 making videos, editing and uploading them to YouTube, my goal has been to reach 500 subscribers. Three days ago, that happened. I am just over the moon, thank you so, so much.

You truly all are like an extended family to me, and it means the world (and so much more) when people say how much they enjoy my blog, or my YouTube videos, and each and every comment really makes me smile. So thank you all for putting up with me, understanding me, and being a part of my life now.

Today, I wanted to share some music with you, that really changes what mood you're in. Some music resonates deeply with me, whilst others are just feel good tunes that can perk you up when you are feeling low.

This music is classical, and very beautiful. I played it on repeat on and off for five hours (yes you read that correctly) whilst I read 'The Scarlet Letter'. I found that book strange, yet very beautiful. I had to read it for coursework, and this was my favourite music at the time, so I played it over and over again whilst I read the book, and now I just associate the music with Hester (the heroine) and her sadness and affection for .... (you thought I was going to give away the whole secret of the book? Nope, you can either read it yourself or google the answer, I'm not going to spoil it!)

At this rate, people are going to think I am a huge Ed Sheeran fan, but honestly, I'm not, these are just two songs that I happen to like by him. This particular song resonates deeply with me, the mood of it is so solemn but beautiful, and everything about this makes me feel calm and collected. I could sit on the bus and listen to this on repeat for hours.

This is hard to describe, it's basically a mix, of a DJ's remix of lots of different songs! This is probably my favourite thing to listen to on bus journey's as the mix lasts nearly an hour (or an hour, I can't recall) but I love a lot of the songs on here. To be honest, I love all of the songs on this mix, but some more than others. I particularly adore:

1. Younger (Seinabo Sey) - Kygo remix

2. Dancer (Thulin) - Kygo remix

4. Can't Afford It All (Jakubi) - Kygo remix

9. Brother (Matt Corby) - Kygo remix

So I do hope you enjoyed this rather random post, it just shares some really wonderful pieces of music. Whilst I do love the modern music, I really love a lot of 80s/90s music too, I love 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith and RunDMC, 'Now That We Found Love', Heavy D and The Boyz, and 'It's Like That' by RunDMC.

Monday, 17 November 2014

So today, I've decided to give a cheat's recipe to achieving nearly as good as Costa Orange Hot Chocolate (which you shall all by now if you read my blog, is limited edition!) So here's how to make an amazing one from home!

Milk (Can be Skimmed, Semi Skimmed or Whole, I'm using whole as it's what we have in the fridge!)

Drinking Hot Chocolate (Something that goes into milk, and NOT hot water! This one is a Cadbury Hot Chocolate Powder that we've been buying for years!)

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Additional Extra Ingredients

(If you're feeling extra luxurious and can handle a few more calories, I'm skipping this as it'd mean at least 3 sessions of Zumba a week instead of 1!)

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Nozzle Cream (the stuff in a can)

Mini Marshmallows (cause if you're going to be luxurious, you may as well go all out!)

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Equipment

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Microwave

Spoon

Jazzy Mug (well, just a fancy mug that you love, mine is, of course, my My Little Pony mug bought for me by two of our lovely students last year!)

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Recipe

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1. Firstly, pour the milk into the mug, you want it to be nice and full (unless you're going the down the luxe route, and then leave a little off the top so you can fit the cream on top!)

2. Pop the milk into the microwave on full setting for 1.50~ my microwave is 800W, and it takes 1.50 minutes to heat up a 'normal' sized mug. If you've got one of the Cath Kidston mugs (like I also have but I'm opting not to use this time) then you're going to need to heat it for a while longer and those mugs are more like bowls!

3. Remove from the microwave once finished, mix in the appropriate amount of hot chocolate powder as it says on the back of the tin (mine says 3 teaspoons, so that's what I'm adding, although sometimes I'll do 2 teaspoons instead). Stir thoroughly.

4. Next, add half a teaspoon of the orange extract. This will look like oil and will settle on the top. Here's where your stirring comes in handy! Stir, stir, stir, until it dissolves. It will go eventually, it just takes some persuading!

5. (OPTIONAL) Add squirty cream and mini marshmallows to decorate.

6. ENJOY! Tastes good doesn't it?

Hope you enjoyed this really quick and simple recipe. I did buy a Costa Orange Hot Chocolate today on the way home from college (I popped into town to do some banking, and grabbed one for the bus journey up the hill!) so I'm a bit cheeky, but for when Costa is shut, you're snuggled in at home watching a wonderful movie, this is a great one to serve to any guests you may have!

Lots of Love (Je T'aime) & Snuggly Hugs!

P.S WE REACHED 500 SUBSCRIBERS (Actually 504/505) SO THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY, VERY MUCH! I'm just so overwhelmed and so thrilled, thank you for making a dream of mine come true!

Now the great question is, can I be bothered to stand in the rain waiting for a bus to go to Zumba? Yep. I'll be hopping on a bus in a couple of hours! :)

Friday, 14 November 2014

I don't usually write many posts about things on a deeper level, but today, I've decided I'm going to.

Last night, I read something that made me extremely worried (please don't worry, no-one is really seriously ill, or dying, nothing like that, this is more trivial, but still had me worried none the less) and the first person I turned to was my best friend. I really admire Courtney, she's so talented, at 19, she's achieved so much, and I'm so, so proud of her. Not only that, but she has always been there for me, through some of the hardest moments of my life. When I lost my grandma, she was there no matter what, through the ridiculous long crush that I had, she was always there, and whenever I lost my head momentarily, she'd always find a way to bring me back to Earth again.

Last night when I text her, she sent me back the most reassuring, lovely text humanely possible, and immediately made me feel better. So what I'm trying to say is: A huge thank you to her, for always being there for me, putting up with me, even when I fancied 'that guy' and we made up code names for him just so we could have a private conversation (well, not so private when all our friends knew!)

Year 11 Prom.

Year 13 Prom.

Year 13 Prom.

What is the point of this post? To tell you to never take your best friends for granted. Even if you occasionally row, you know when you've found your one true best friend, because even after three days ignoring each other and only slightly grunting at each other when it was completely necessary (Year 12 was fun! The first run of it anyway....) you'll still always be friends.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

For some reason, it's been such a long time since I last made a video, which I will explain in the latest video (not yet live), but I wanted to let you know that hopefully by late this evening, my new video will be live and ready to watch, I'm just putting the finishing touches to it now! There is a lot of snuggly, christmassy items in this one, because I feel like it's acceptable to get all excited about Christmas now!

Be sure to keep an eye open for it.

VIDEO LINK, JUST CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW!

"On Top Of The World, On Top Of It All, Trying To Feel Invincible."

Also, a new song that I discovered recently that has really lifted my spirit is:

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Anyway, so upon waking up far too early, and realising I in fact, do not need to catch my bus until 11.48, I decided to go and do a photoshoot, outside (where it is pretty cold right now!) but I got warmed up by dashing between the camera and behind it haha!

I'm overall a very happy person today as I had some more non-blog related good news last night (I'm sorry, but on this occasion I can't share, not for a while anyway, but I promise I'll let you know as soon as I can tell you, I'm only telling very few people that I'm close to)

P.S Did you notice my hair is a lot more brown? I fixed it yesterday, and I'm actually really, really happy with it, considering it was a semi permanent ash brown to match my natural, I didn't dye my natural brown at all (I literally just botched over the blonde, and left a bit at the bottom haha)